Commentary / Podcasts

Top 10 from Peter Wolfgang for All Time

My grandmother, the emergent Catholic right, and why Massimo misses it by Peter Wolfgang (From Feb 1, 2025) 53,571

My grandmother died yesterday at the age of 96. There is no single person to whom I owe a greater debt for imparting to me my Catholic faith than her. I have explained why in numerous Facebook posts over the years and in a Catholic Herald piece commemorating the centennial of Our Lady of...

The Israel-Gaza War: Evangelical vs. Catholic reactions by Peter Wolfgang (From Oct 4, 2024) 40,272

Next Monday, October 7th, marks the first anniversary of the terrorist attack on Israel by the terror group Hamas. It was this attack that started the Israel-Gaza War. Is there any issue in our public life more fraught than the Israel-Gaza War? I mean, for Catholics. We all know where faithful...

Bishops Approve “Gay-Washed” Bible by Peter Wolfgang (From Sep 30, 2025) 33,389

Happy St. Jerome’s Day! Or maybe not so happy. News broke yesterday on the Catholic Bible Talk blog that a Catholic Edition of the New Revised Standard Version updated edition (NRSVue) has been approved by the USCCB. According to the Friendship Press YouTube channel, from which Catholic...

My thoughts as Pope Francis nears his death—or doesn’t by Peter Wolfgang (From Feb 22, 2025) 31,768

I am praying for Pope Francis who, according to a report published a few minutes before I began to type this column, remains in critical condition. As my Catholic Culture colleague Phil Lawler notes, it is the wisest and best thing we can do for the Pope. Not following “the very excitable...

A defense of Scott Hahn and the Hahn School by Peter Wolfgang (From Feb 11, 2026) 21,992

Readers of this column know that I occasionally opine on matters of Biblical scholarship about which I have no expertise. Buckle up because I am about to do it again. In fact, it is because I have no expertise that I want to say something about this. Something on behalf of us little people, the...

Bishop Barron pains the Catholic Left. He heartens the rest of us. by Peter Wolfgang (From Mar 13, 2026) 21,761

Steven Greydanus, a deacon of the Archdiocese of Newark and former film critic for the National Catholic Register, has penned a “longread” Substack article against Bishop Robert Barron. Here’s the short version: Bishop Barron leans right. This pains Catholics like Greydanus, who...

McElroy, McCarrick, and the Catholic Left by Peter Wolfgang (From Jan 11, 2025) 21,029

There are so many things to be said about the appointment of Cardinal McElroy to be the next Archbishop of Washington, DC that you could break those things down into different categories. There is, first, the politics category. That is, politics seems to be the sole motivation for the...

Vice President Vance deftly de-escalates conflict with Pope Francis by Peter Wolfgang (From Mar 2, 2025) 20,464

“What the heck did you guys feed Vance for breakfast?” That was my wife, texting me last Friday, the day of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. I was one of the 1,400 breakfast attendees who had the privilege of hearing a stellar speech by JD Vance, the first Catholic convert...

Why support for same-sex marriage is declining by Peter Wolfgang (From May 31, 2025) 19,388

“Support for same-sex marriage among Republicans has dropped 14 points in the last 3 years, per Gallup.” So reports Bryan Metzger, a senior politics reporter for Business Insider. According to Gallup’s analysis of their own numbers: Ten years after the Supreme Court...

“Gay-Washed” Bible’s imprimatur should be withdrawn. Here’s why. by Peter Wolfgang (From Oct 15, 2025) 18,531

I am grateful to OSV News for reporting on my concerns about the USCCB’s granting of an imprimatur to the New Revised Standard Version updated edition (NRSVue) Bible. I appreciate USCCB Scripture scholar Father Pablo Gadenz responding directly to my concerns. But I found his responses...